This relay team will be competing in the Eastern Section Southern Zone Age Group Championships on March 16-18 in Greensboro, N.C.

NATIONAL

NFL: Saints violated the ‘Bounty Rule’

NEW YORK — New Orleans Saints players and at least one assistant coach maintained a bounty pool of up to $50,000 the last three seasons to reward game-ending injuries inflicted on opposing players, including Brett Favre and Kurt Warner, the NFL said Friday. “Knockouts” were worth $1,500 and “cart-offs” $1,000, with payments doubled or tripled for the playoffs.

The NFL said the pool amounts reached their height in 2009, the year the Saints won the Super Bowl.

The league said between 22 and 27 defensive players were involved in the program and that it was administered by defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, with the knowledge of coach Sean Payton.

Williams apologized for his role, saying: “It was a terrible mistake, and we knew it was wrong while we were doing it.”

No punishments have been handed out, but they could include suspension, fines and loss of draft picks. The NFL said the findings were corroborated by multiple, independent sources, during an investigation by the league’s security department.

Players contributed cash to the pool, at times large amounts, and in some cases the money pledged was directed against a specific person, the NFL said.

“The payments here are particularly troubling because they involved not just payments for ‘performance,’ but also for injuring opposing players,” Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “The bounty rule promotes two key elements of NFL football: player safety and competitive integrity.”

All payouts for specific performances in a game, including interceptions or causing fumbles, are against NFL rules.

Former Bronco Perrish Cox acquitted of sexual assault

CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — A Colorado jury acquitted former Denver Broncos cornerback Perrish Cox of sexual assault charges on Friday, a verdict that was met with disbelief by the alleged victim.

Cox was accused of sexually assaulting a woman at his apartment in September 2010 after a night of partying. She became pregnant, and prosecutors said DNA tests indicated Cox was the father.

Cox hugged his attorney after the verdict was read, while the alleged victim let out an audible sigh and a cry. As she was leaving the courtroom, she said, “Oh my God, what’s happening?”

Cox expressed appreciation for his attorney, Harvey Steinberg, and others who supported him during the trial.

“I love my lawyer and everybody else who’s been,” with me, he said.

Steinberg had disputed the DNA test results and suggested they may have been contaminated. During the cross-examination of witnesses, he tried to paint a picture of drunkenness and of the alleged victim being able to interact with people without remembering.

“We always felt there were substantial holes in the case,” he said. “We had hoped they (the jury) would see those same holes.”

The woman’s attorney, Craig Silverman, said she still believes she did the right thing by going to police, and she doesn’t want other sexual assault victims to be discouraged from coming forward.